u/SameBlueberry1328

Hi everyone,

I’m seeing my psychiatrist today to discuss the possibility of trying an MAOI. I’m dealing with treatment-resistant depression as well as severe anxiety.

Because anxiety is such a major part of my symptoms, I had initially assumed Nardil would be the MAOI to consider first. But after reading people’s experiences here, I’m not completely sure. It seems like Parnate can be very effective for anxiety as well.

For those of you who have had treatment-resistant anxiety, did Parnate help you? I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences, especially if you’ve tried both Parnate and Nardil. I am also curious if Parnate generally has fewer side effects, particularly insomnia.

Thank you!

Hello again, everyone. I recently posted a question about Nardil, and I’ve become very interested in it because of its unique effects on GABA and its potential relevance to anxiety.

Most of the reports I find on Reddit, though, are from people using Nardil for social anxiety disorder (SAD). I’m specifically interested in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)—the kind where you feel like your body is constantly stuck in fight-or-flight, with persistent physical anxiety and tension.

Has anyone here had success using Nardil specifically for GAD or that kind of constant physical anxiety? I’d also be interested in hearing about experiences with other MAOIs for this type of anxiety.

Thank you!

Hi everyone!

I’m trying to understand when it might make sense to consider an MAOI, most likely Nardil, and I’d really appreciate hearing from people with similar experiences.

I’ve had some benefit from amitriptyline, but the anticholinergic side effects caused tachycardia, so I had to stop. Trintellix helped a little, but not nearly enough. For the past two months I’ve been taking Pristiq (desvenlafaxine), which has helped somewhat with anxiety and depression, but I’m still having significant insomnia and, more importantly, my physical anxiety remains poorly controlled.

A major part of my problem is strong physical/somatic symptoms associated with MDD, GAD, and PTSD. Things like intense muscle/body tension, fatigue, pain, elevated heart rate, and a persistent feeling of physical anxiety can make it very difficult for me to function day to day, especially when an antidepressant isn't adequately controlling them.

For those of you who have experience with Nardil or other MAOIs:

• At what point did you decide it was worth trying an MAOI?
• Did you find Nardil meaningfully more effective than SSRIs/SNRIs for physical or autonomic anxiety?
• Did symptoms such as body tension, fatigue, pain, or elevated heart rate improve substantially?
• If you had tried several conventional antidepressants without adequate relief, did Nardil feel noticeably different?

Also, is insomnia a common side effect? I imagine for some the enhanced GABA levels might translate into better sleep.

I realize everyone responds differently, and I’m not looking for medical advice—just trying to understand whether an MAOI might be worth discussing with my psychiatrist.

Thank you!

Hi Everyone,

My doctor prescribed me Seroquel for insomnia mainly and also for anxiety, but I was reading that clinical trials show that Seroquel XR has much more evidence for both insomnia and daytime anxiety, which makes sense if it has more stable blood levels.

Has anyone tried both and noticed much of a difference in sleep and next day anxiety?

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I tried Seroquel for the first time last night at the lowest dose (25 mg).

I had essentially no response—I was awake for most of the night and didn't notice any meaningful sedation.

For the past couple of months, I had been taking another antihistamine to help with sleep, so I'm wondering if I may have developed some tolerance to its sedating effects.

Has anyone else had little or no response to 25 mg, but found that increasing the dose helped with insomnia?

Thank you!

Louis

Hi everyone,

I'm now at week 6 on 50 mg of Pristiq (plus one week on 25 mg). The activation and intense physical symptoms are gradually improving, and I've started having more good days.

That said, I still have some very difficult days. On those days, the physical symptoms are so intense that I mostly end up lying down. It's honestly confusing that they can still be this strong six weeks in.

I've also had a few real "breakthrough" moments. For example, one evening the agony suddenly lifted, and my whole perspective shifted from anxious to calm for the rest of the night. During those times I've noticed much more mental clarity and insight. I've also seen some improvement in my depression and even my pain levels.

The problem is that it still feels like a bit of a rollercoaster. Some days I feel like I'm clearly moving forward, while on others the anxiety, body symptoms, and pain flare up again.

I'm not sure what to make of it all. I've read a few posts from people who said it took them around 8 weeks before things really stabilized.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Does this sound like a normal week-6 experience, or were your symptoms more settled by this point?

I'm seeing my doctor on Monday, so I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences.

Thank you!

Hi Everyone,

A bit of an odd title for my post haha, but earlier today after 4 weeks on 50 mg, I just started to feel better suddenly out of the blue. All symptoms, pain, anxiety, fatigue and depression just much lower.

So how did it feel when you felt better on Pristiq?

This is my first SNRI and I have not tried SSRIs, but Amitriptyline helped but I constantly felt that it was sedating my symptoms, I felt a little drugged. But with Pristiq it just feels clear, almost like there is no drug in my system?

Just curious, thank you!

Hi Everyone,

I have been on 25 mg Pristiq for one week and 50 mg for 2.5 weeks. (I am cross tapering from Trintellix, but for now my Trintellix dose is stable.)

Initially it was very rough .... pain mainly, then for a while it felt like I was taking nothing at all, and then a couple days later things started feeling quite strange. I had some better and some worse days and then for the last 4 or so days it just feels like my baseline anxiety is slowly worsening everyday which is quite scary considering I have severe debilitating anxiety to start with.

I don't want to pull the plug on this experiment yet. Has anyone experienced something similar? Did things improve? Any advice? It seems for some it can get quite a bit worse before getting better.

Thank you.

Hi Everyone,

I have been on Trintellix for over a year, and although I had little to no side effects it did not help my anxiety or pain much so I am cross tapering onto Pristiq by my doctor's instruction. When I asked to go on Trintellix I did so as I had heard that it had a favorable withdrawal profile.

However, it has been 3 weeks since I started cross-tapering and I am having fairly strong physical withdrawal. Feeling super restless with body aches. What is strange is that it is more so physical than emotional, although I also experienced a couple panic attacks. I slowed tapering off Trintellix a bit and that seemed to help a little.

Has anyone else experienced something like this? How long did it last for you?

Thank you.

Hi Everyone,

Recently I started researching MAOIs. I've had anxiety most of my life, but things went to a whole next level when I got sick in grad school and then burned out and have been without a job for the past 6 years. I pretty much don't leave home, except for a short walk in the mornings. Can't focus much neither, so not much reading or watching TV, mainly resting.

The first few years it felt like I was living in a continuous panic attack. I was put on clonazepam daily and still am. I have tried many meds, currently trialling Pristiq, but I just don't see the same amazing recovery stories that I read about MAOIs with SSRIs and SNRIs etc. The only med that really helped was Amitriptyline, but I had to stop due to side effects, but I started becoming much more functional on that med.

How much has your MAOI med helped with anxiety, particularly Nardil? (Is that the main one that is useful for anxiety?) Did it help anyone come off or reduce chronic benzo use? I want to use an MAOI to help me taper off clonazepam.

How would I prepare to go onto an MAOI? I know I need to taper off all serotonin drugs and there has to be a washout period. But how much more restricting is it to take an MAOI? What other common meds would have to be tapered? I am also on Caplyta, and for sleep sublingual cyclobenzaprine (Tonmya). How restrictive is it in terms of supplements like CBD or Kratom?

My severe anxiety just seems to break through every treatment, curious if an MAOI might be different, in particular as Nardil is an irreversible MAOI.

Thank you.

I've been taking CBD isolate for severe anxiety and have gradually worked my way up to about 1000 mg/day. Surprisingly, this dose seems to help me significantly more than the lower doses I tried.

I'm aware that this is much higher than what many people use, but it's still below the maximum Epidiolex dose used for epilepsy based on my body weight.

For those of you taking high doses (500-1500 mg/day) long-term:

• How much are you taking?
• How long have you been taking it?
• Do you get regular bloodwork?
• If so, what labs do you monitor (ALT, AST, bilirubin, etc.)?
• Have you ever seen elevated liver enzymes from CBD?
• Has your doctor had any concerns about long-term use at these doses?

For context, I'm using CBD isolate rather than full-spectrum products.

I'm interested in hearing real-world experiences from people using prescription-level CBD doses, especially anyone who has been doing it for months or years. Thank you.

Hi All,

I am curious .... do any of you experience strong body anxiety, including physical pain?

I have pain nearly all the time, and I am trying an SNRI for it, just started. My pain is not structural, it is closely linked to my mood, ie anxiety increases then pain increases. Pain is also not very consistent, mostly diffuse, sometimes sharp, sometimes burning etc.

What has worked for any of you when it comes to pain and emotional regulation?

Thank you.

Any success stories using Pristiq for pain? What kind of physical pain were you experiencing? Mine is closely tied to emotions, but manifest as physical body pain.

Hi All,

I'm about a week in and about to increase from 25 mg to 50 mg. The first couple of days Pristiq seemed to just work for all my symptoms, including anxiety and pain no problems.

Now it feels like I am entering a painful adjustment phase, and it's flaring my anxiety and pain badly (I am cross-tapering from Trintellix, so maybe that plays in too.).

What do you all think, does this sound familiar? Strange to have an easy first couple of days then it turns difficult quick.

Thank you!

Hi Everyone,

I just started Pristiq today. My doctor chose it because it is in the "green" column of my GeneSight gene test. I am cross-tapering from Trintellix, which did not provide much anxiety relief or any other relief for me for the past 1.5 years.

I was expecting to feel activated as it is an SNRI (nortriptyline made me feel very jittery), but I actually feel a bit sleepy and my anxiety is a bit better. Anyone else experience that Pristiq is more calming than activating?

Has Pristiq helped anyone much with severe anxiety? Has it helped anyone with pain?

Thank you.

Hi Everyone,

I have been using kratom raw leaf powder daily for about two months. The first 1.5 months I slowly titrated up from 4.8 gpd to just under 10 gpd. Then for the last two weeks or so I went a bit high and ended up at 15 gpd which seems to be a ceiling for me beyond which I do not seem to feel much more benefit and I built a tolerance to the current dose as well. It still helps for pain, but not for mood. Now a couple of days later I am back down to just under 10 gpd.

If I want to quit and considering I have been taking kratom for only 2 months, should I do a quick taper or slow taper? Does it sound reasonable to taper say 1 tsp (i.e. 2.4 g) every 7 to 10 days? Or maybe a faster taper, like halving the dose or something?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

For those of you who have tapered successfully, how would you approach this situation?

Starting from scratch, I was around 8–10 gpd for about 1.5 months and have only been around 14–15 gpd for the past two weeks.

The higher dose isn't providing much additional emotional benefit anymore, although it still helps my pain.

My current thought is to stabilize at around 8 gpd and then taper gradually following the tapering guide in this sub, but I'm wondering whether I'm being overly cautious given that I've only been at the higher dose for a short period of time.

If you were in my shoes, would you:

• Hold steady for a while first?
• Drop back to your previous effective dose fairly quickly?
• Taper slowly from the current dose?

I'd be especially interested in hearing from people who used kratom for pain and emotional regulation.

Thanks.

Hi everyone,

A few weeks ago I posted about how much kratom had helped me. It improved both my pain and mood regulation, and I was able to start exercising again, help more around the house, spend time with family, and stop spending most of my days in bed.

Since then, however, I've continued increasing my activity level and also my kratom dose. I was around 8 gpd when I last posted, and I'm now at about 15 gpd.

Recently I've become pretty burned out and flared up. I tried increasing the dose a couple more times, but noticed that it didn't provide much additional benefit. That has made me wonder whether I've reached a ceiling where increasing the dose further is no longer helping, at least for mood regulation.

The interesting thing is that kratom still seems to be helping my pain quite a bit, but it doesn't seem to be helping my emotional regulation nearly as much as it was before.

My current plan is to slow down, pace myself better, get plenty of rest, hold my dose steady, and eventually try tapering gradually to see whether a lower dose still provides adequate pain relief.

I'm curious whether others here have experienced something similar. Did you find that the mood benefits plateaued before the pain benefits? If you reached a point where increasing the dose no longer helped, what did you do?

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Hi Everyone.

I am curious if anyone has had experience with a Stellate Ganglion Block or SGB for PTSD/anxiety. I received a single injection on the right side of my neck around C6. Right after I had all the usual symptoms that indicate a successful block, including a bloodshot droopy right eye, warm in half of my face, my right ear and arm etc. I felt slightly calmer, but perhaps that was partially due to the anxiety building up to the procedure being over, so nothing spectacular.

After that nothing much, except a couple of days later I experienced some trauma surfacing and my emotions softening a bit temporarily. My doctor is considering trying the left side of the neck or possibly trying repeated injections on the right. Anyone had a similar experience? Did a second injection on the left help at all? Thanks.

Hi all. I’m really glad I found this sub. Reading long-term kratom success stories encouraged me to try using it more consistently instead of only occasionally.

About 6 weeks ago I started taking kratom daily for chronic pain and anxiety, and honestly it helped much more than I expected. I take about 8–10 gpd total, split into smaller doses throughout the day, and I only use raw leaf powder.

Before kratom I was spending hours lying down in pain, struggling to make it through family events, and barely able to exercise. Since starting daily use, I’ve been running several miles a day, helping around the house again, and sleeping better.

The two biggest improvements have been pain and anxiety. It’s one of the few natural substances that has significantly improved my functionality and quality of life.

What I’m noticing now, though, after about 6 weeks, is that my body seems to be adapting somewhat. I no longer get much of the strong mood boost, and I notice a bit more emotional dysregulation/anxiety creeping back in. However, my overall functioning still seems much higher than before kratom, and it still helps my pain quite a bit.

I’m curious whether others experienced a strong initial response followed by more of a plateau. And when it plateaued, did your baseline still remain meaningfully improved compared to being without kratom?

Part of my hope is that if kratom can help sustain a more functional baseline for a while, I can use that time to build healthier habits, calm my nervous system, and maybe eventually taper slowly down the road.

Would really appreciate hearing long-term experiences from others. Thanks everyone.